Pbotection of ships against torpedo attack



"L; E. WHITON.

PROTECTION OF SHIPS AGAINST TORPEDO ATTACK. APPLICATION FILED xuwzz. 1919.

1,339,372. Patented May 4,1920.

O O .9 9 -1:J5 If C u ue nfoz Lucius if. W/zi/on UNITED STATES PATENT oFmoE.

LUGIUS E. WI-II'I'ON, or NEW LONDON,

CONNECTICUT.

PROTECTION OF SHIPS AGAINST TORPEDO ATTACK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 4, 1920.

Application filed July 22, 1918. Serial No. 246,006.

vented a new and useful Protection of Ships Against Torpedo Attack, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention has for one of its importantobjects the provision of a means of protection against torpedo attack in which it will not be-necessary to have special outboard rigging for maintaining the protection at the requisite distance from the side of the ship.

and maintenance of the protective barrier the proper distance from the side of the ship.

nother object is to provide an efficient form of protection which can be readily steering and towing elements, arranged on edge in the water in spaced apart relation, one in/advance of the other, and provide tow lines for the same, attached to the fore and aft portions of such elements, for mainf taining them in substantial parallelism,

whereby by the adjustment of such tow lines, the angle made by the elements in respect to the towing ship may be varied to steer such elements closer to or farther away from the side of the ship. These towing units are preferably arranged on divergent lines at opposite sides of the bow of the ship. A barrier or protective wall is towed from each set of such towing elements so that by 40 steering said elements inward or outward,

the main protective wall may be shifted with respect to the side of the ship.

Other features and details of construction will ap ear as the specification proceeds.

In t e accompanying drawing, I have illustrated more or less diagrammatically, a practical embodiment of my invention, wherein- Figure 1, is a plan view ofthe invention as applied to theprotection of a ship, showing in dotted position, at one sideofthe ship, the steering elementscollapsed or brought in against the side of the ship.

Fig. 2" is a view in side elevation of the 5 5 invention;

- Figs. 3 and 4 are front and end views of Another object is to enable the placing one of the float sectionsor units of the protective wall.

The main protective wall is designated 5, and is in the form of a barrier, floated on edge at the side of the shipand made up usually of a series of sectionsd'flexibly joined together as by means of the, connecting loops 7.

These sections are preferably constructed of inherently buoyant material such as wood, and may be constructed as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 of flat boards 8, fastened together in edge to edge relation by angle bars 9 at thebottom and battens 10 at the top. These angle irons serve the additional function of weighting the lower edge of the sections" and said sections may be further weighted to cause them to stand upright in the water as by securing an anchor chain 11 to the lower edge of thesections. This anchor chain acts also as additional means to flexibly tie the fioatable sections together.

The steering sections 12 may be constructed in the same way as those just described and said sections are, as most clearly shown in Fig. .1, joined insubstantially parallel relation bvtow lines 13, 14 attached to the fore caused to steer outwardor inward with respect to the side of the ship. I

The towing chains 13-14 may be arranged in pairs as indicated most clearly in Fig. 2, one chain of each pair being connected to the bottom portion of the forward float and the other chain of such pair being connected to the upper or intermediate portion of the float. It will be seen from this that by lengthening or shortening'these upper and lower chains with respect to each other, the floats may be inclinedvertically in either direction more or less in the water.

The towing lines are shown passed over pulleys 15 supported on the bow-sprit or other forward portion 16 of the vessel. The steering of the floats may be accomplished by attaching the tow lines to a suitable Windlass or windlasses but in the illustration this function is accomplished by means of a chain hoist construction involving a I chain-wheel 17 operated by a hand chain 18 and serving through the usual worm gearing to turn the chain pulleys 15) which carry the hoist chains 20, such hoist chains being connected to the tow lines at 21 and having turn-buckles 22 incorporated therein. The usual method of operation is to connect the tow lines or one set, say the tow lines 13, to one end of one hoist chain and the tow lines (14) of the other set to the other end of the same hoist chain. It follows from this that as the hand chain is operated, the pulleys 19 will be turned and will by means of the hains 20 shift the two sets of chains 13 and i l. relative to each other thereby inclining the floats inwardly or outwardly as the case may be, to cause them to steer toward or away from the side of the ship. The turn-buckles 22 enable an adjustment in the length 01'' the chains such as to incline the floats in the water in either direction from the true vertical. This is useful in case it becomes necessary to slant I the floats so as to cause them to plow into the water to off-set the lifting tendency exerted by the tow lines.

The chain hoist is shown mounted so as to be bodily adjustable forward and aft by attaching itto a cable 23 passed under a pulley 24 and up over a block 25. By means of this cable it is possible to shift the chain hoist and thus advance or back the floats bodily with respect to the ship.

Instead of by chains or towing lines the steering floats may be joined by means of relatively flat links 26 pivotally engaged with opposite ends oi adjoining floats, these links serving to hold the floats in the spaced relation predetermined upon.

The main barriers 5 are attached to the steering and towing units as by means of the connection 27 which may be in the form of a chain and which chain is shown connected at 28 approximately at the center or intersection of the diagonal axes of the next to the outermost float of the series, thus leaving a; gap 29 for the surface water thrown up by the bow of the ship, which gap is however protected by the outermost float of the series.

With the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 1, the towing units are disposed on divergent angles at opposite sides of the bow portion of the ship. Full protection is aitorded for the sides of the ship and the steering units at opposite sides of the ship may be trimmed to suit the water conditions at such opposite sides. The trainsare preferably kept under control at the stern by means of stern lines 24 attached to the rear ends of. the barriers. j I Fig. 1, shows in dotted lines how the floats may be collapsed in at the side of theshipand it will b e evident from the preceding that by simply varying the angles of the steering floats the barriers may be steered off to any required distance from the side of the ship, as shown as the ship gets under way and the means described provide for any required trimming to meet various conditions.

Vhat claim is z-- 1.. Means for protecting ships against torpedo attack comprising barriers floated on edge in spaced relation and disposed one in advance of the other, and towing lines connecting the forward and rearward portions of such barriers in substantial paral lelism, adapted when relatively displaced to simultaneously change the angles of said barriers with respect to a ship protected thereby.

2. Means for protecting ships against torpedo attack, comprising a series of barriers floated on. edge in spaced relation, one in. advance of the other at the side of a ship, towing lines from said ship connecting the barriers in substantial parallelism and means for displacing the towing lines relative to each other to thereby simultaneously shift the barriers to form difierent angles with respect to the ship protected.

3. Means for protecting ships against torpedo attack, comprising a barrier floated on edge at the side of the ship, a series of towing members comprising vanes floated on edge in spaced relation. one in advance of: the other, and towing lines attached to the forward and rearward edges of the towing vanes and holdin the same in substantial parallel relation, means whereby said towing lines maybe relatively shifted to simultaneously change the angles of the vanes to therehymiuse said vanes to veer ofl'i from or approach the sides Oil the ship. the barrier aforesaid being attached to said vanes. I j

4. Means for protecting ships against torpedo attack, comprising a series of steering and towing elements floated on edge in spaced apart relation and one in advance of the other, towing means attached to the forward and the rearward edge portions of said towing and steering elements, securing the same together in substantial para-llelism, and adapted when relatively sh ifted to steer said elements with respect to the ship by which they are towed, and a. bar rier floated on edge in rear of the towing elements and attached to one of the towing elements.

5. Means for protecting ships against torpedo attack, comprising a series of tow ing elements at each side of the ship. disposedon edge in spaced apart relation. one in advance of the other, and said two series extending rearwardly on divergent lines from the bow portion of the ship, means connecting the fore and aft portions of the members of each series in substantial parallelism, means for relatively shifting the towing lines of each series to simultaneously change the angle made by a series of such members with respect to the towing ship, and a barricade towed from each of said two series of members, each of said barricades being attached to its towing unit at a point inward from the outermost member of such unit.

6. Means for protecting ships a ainst torpedo attack, comprising a series oi barriers floated on edge in spaced relation and disposed one in advance of the other, towing means connecting the forward and rearward portions of such barriers in substantial parallelism, means for relatively shifting said towing means to change the angles of such barriers with respect to a ship protected thereby and means for relatively inclining the barriers in the water.

LUCIUS E. WHITON. 

